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OPINION

Chillicothe's missing persons problem

It's not uncommon to hear of a missing person's report. Law enforcement takes many in the course of a year. In fact, many of the police reports of missing persons the Gazette receives are usually resolved in a matter of days with the missing person returning on their own or contacting their loved ones to let them know that they are OK.

But with five women reported missing in Chillicothe within a year — and two of them found dead — it's a troubling trend that many in our community find appalling.

The missing women are:

•Charlotte Trego reported missing May 3, 2014 when she was reported missing by her mother. She was added to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System in September and remains missing today.

•Tameka Lynch reported missing May 20, 2014, by her husband. Her body was found in Paint Creek in western Ross County four days later. The coroner reported she died from a drug overdose, but the investigation as to how her body ended up in the water continues.

•Wanda Lemons reported missing Nov. 3, 2014, by her mother, who said she hadn't heard from her daughter for two months. She was added to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System in February and remains missing today.

•Shasta Himelrick reported missing by family Dec. 26, 2014. Her body was found in the Scioto River on Jan. 2. The coroner later determined Himelrick died as the result of suicide, a ruling the family disputes. The case remains open, according to the Ross County Sheriff's Office.

•Tiffany Sayre, reported missing May 11. She remains missing.

Family members and law enforcement have indicated that drug abuse, prostitution and even human trafficking could be factors in the cases, and police have repeatedly acknowledged they haven't ruled anything out as they investigate. Regardless, we believe the law enforcement community is doing their best to find the women who are still missing and to stamp out whatever criminal element might be causing these disappearances.

The circumstances of each woman's life might cause some people to wave off the disappearances and death as the consequences of poor choices. Regardless of the circumstances of these incidents, each woman had friends and family who cared deeply for them. Those loved ones of those also deserve clear and regular communication from law enforcement on any substantive movement in the cases. They deserve answers if they can be given.

The best chance for that comes from law enforcement's hard work, with trained investigators using all resources they can to locate each of the missing women and find out anything they can about how the two women died. They won't reveal details of their investigation to the community at large because revealing details compromises the investigation.

But we're confident they are at work on the missing person's cases and, if there are links, they will find them and pursue them. Meanwhile, our hopes remain for a homecoming for those still missing and for peace in lives of the families of those who died.